Vascular grafting is the use of transplanted blood vessels or synthetic scaffolds to replace, repair, or bypass damaged or potentially dangerous vessels. Vascular grafts are implanted into subjects with a wide variety of diseases and disorders, including cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, peripheral vascular disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, and the like. These grafts can improve or restore blood flow to regions in which flow is obstructed. While autologous vessels or synthetic vessels made from biocompatible materials are traditionally used today, there has been some development in the use of decellularized structures as vascular grafts. Decellularized vascular grafts retain the shape and structure of native vessels, but are devoid of cells, thereby minimizing the immunogenicity of the grafts. Various decellularized biological structures are being developed as small-caliber vascular grafts. Currently their main drawback is high thrombogenicity, which can be reduced by recellularizing the luminal side of the implant with host cells. However, this solution implies at least a one month patient specific waiting time, due to required harvest and expansion of autologous endothelial cells to line the graft lumen. For clinical usage of newly emerging biological vascular grafts (such as tissue engineered and native decellularized grafts) a solution that will be available at the time of need is necessary for clinical application.
Thus, there is a need in the art for anti-thrombogenic coatings of vascular grafts. The present invention satisfies this unmet need.